Working Hard but Uninsured - Carol's Health Care Story

I get really frustrated when talking about health care because not only do I have no time to look for coverage, but even if I did, it's just too expensive. I go to school full time at Rhode Island College where I'm finishing my masters in social work. Plus I work 30 hours on weekends and have an internship where I work at least another 20 hours a week. I have no coverage, nothing, because it's too expensive to get insurance through school, and I'm just squeaking by as it is, between paying rent, bills, my cell phone, gas, and car maintenance.

But this last summer, I was really achy and in pain, and I knew something was wrong with my heart, and I had a lump in my chest. I was having all these problems, and I didn't know what they were. Obviously, your brain thinks it's the worst, but it could be nothing. It was really frustrating to do health care policy research all summer and go home and realize I don't feel well, and I know something's wrong, and I don't have health care.

Eventually, I had to go to the emergency room. I was there for over 10 hours and they performed all sorts of tests, and when I left I had $3500 in bills. And they still couldn't tell me for sure what's wrong. I've had to put getting further tests done off until I actually have health care coverage, which won't be until almost a year from now when I graduate and have a job. I've had to force myself to work through the pain, physically and mentally, until I can actually get it checked out, because I can't afford another $3500.

Not knowing what's wrong with me is really hard on me, especially on top of all the stress from school and work. And I think, what if I don't do anything about this right now, will it get worse?

There's no easy answer, but we have to figure out how we fit the most people's needs, and it's not a partisan issue. Everybody deals with health care and everyone will have health issues at some point.